Dental implants are implanted into the jawbone of a patient that has lost some or all of his or her teeth in that jawbone. Various procedures exist for fabricating teeth to be attached to those implants. One procedure currently used is known as the “immediate load protocol.” In the immediate load protocol as currently carried out, a patient receives a “temporary hybrid prosthesis” (also referred to as “temporary hybrid”) including temporary teeth during the surgical visit during which dental implants are implanted into the jawbone by an implant surgeon. The temporary hybrid includes temporary teeth and metal temporary cylinders. Screws are used to attach the temporary hybrid to the implants. These screws go through bores in the temporary cylinders and screw into threads in the implants. However, the metal cylinders are not connected to one another with metal, but rather are connected to one another with less sturdy acrylic material that is typically used to hold a denture (which includes a set of artificial teeth for one jaw) together. The procedure for making a temporary hybrid under the immediate load protocol as currently carried out is described in detail in the section below entitled “Procedure for Making a Temporary Hybrid Prosthesis to Be Installed in a Patient's Mouth.”
After having dental implants implanted, it typically takes several months for the implants to fuse to the patient's jawbone, a process known as “osseointegration.” During this time, the tissue in the patient's mouth heals, and the post-surgical swelling goes down. At that point, a patient is ready to have a “final hybrid prosthesis” (also known as a “final hybrid”) of teeth made and installed in his or her mouth. This final hybrid differs from the temporary hybrid primarily in that the metal cylinders in the hybrid are attached to one another with a metal bar, such that the cylinders and the bar form one extremely sturdy, integral piece. The final hybrid replaces the temporary hybrid and is intended to more or less be permanently installed in the patient's mouth.
In the immediate load protocol as currently carried out, it takes at least five (and usually more) visits to a restorative dentist (after the surgical visit in which the implant surgeon implants the dental implants in the patient's mouth) to fabricate the final hybrid and have it installed in the patient's mouth. These five or more visits to a restorative dentist typically occur over a period of several months. A significant amount of dental laboratory time occurs between these visits, where the final hybrid is designed, fabricated and perfected based on information obtained during the visits to the restorative dentist. For this reason (and also due to patient and dentist availability), the five or more visits to a restorative dentist must be scheduled over a period of several months. The work done during each of these visits to the restorative dentist, as well as the work done by the dental laboratory between the visits, is described in detail in the section below entitled “Manufacture of Final Hybrid Without Duplicate Temporary Hybrid.”
Having to visit a restorative dentist five or more times over several months to have the final hybrid fabricated and installed is inconvenient and expensive to patients, many of whom do not have insurance to help with the costs of dental implants. Moreover, patients who have a temporary hybrid in their mouths are limited in what they are able to eat because the temporary hybrid is not as sturdy as the final hybrid, and thus patients are eager to get the final hybrid installed as quickly as possible. Thus, there is a need for methods that would allow for the final hybrid to be fabricated and installed that require fewer visits to a restorative dentist and could be done in less time, and a need for apparatuses to be used in those methods.
Even when an immediate load protocol is not used, there is still a need for methods by which a final hybrid prosthesis can be made with fewer visits to a restorative dentist and in a shorter period of time, and a need for apparatuses for use in those methods.